Pray for Maria, a refugee/nurse in FSW’s Palomas shelter

One of the most important people in Fellowship Southwest’s network of ministry to immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border needs your prayers.

Maria, a refugee from Cuba who lives in the shelter in Palomas, Chihuahua, is facing surgery, reported Rosalio Sosa, director of Red de Albergues Para Migrantes (Migrant Shelter Network) and pastor of Iglesia Bautista Tierra de Oro in El Paso. 

When Maria migrated from Cuba and sought asylum in the United States, she landed in Palomas, about 100 miles in the desert west of Juarez. Fellowship Southwest collaborated with Red de Albergues Para Migrantes and state and local government officials to open the Palomas shelter early this year. 

The rural village could not maintain a shelter on its own, and yet some refugees congregated there, awaiting their opportunity for asylum hearings in the United States. Fellowship Southwest provides funds each month to operate the shelter and has purchased appliances and provided funds to help renovate the building. 

But Maria is the person who has made the Palomas shelter special, Sosa stressed.

“She’s a nurse—almost a doctor. She does everything out there a doctor would do,” he reported. “In addition to tending to the medical needs of immigrants, Maria also has treated people from Palomas.”

On top of mending the physical ailments of immigrants and locals, Maria is the de facto director of the shelter. She shares the love of Jesus with people who meet her.

So, Maria has been a godsend—to Sosa, to the refugees in the shelter and to the community.

But she has become ill, and Sosa has transported her to a Red de Albergues Para Migrantes/Fellowship Southwest shelter in Juarez, where she awaits surgery.

At Sosa’s request, Fellowship Southwest has provided funds to cover the cost of the operation. This is possible because medical expenses in Mexico are much lower than they are in the United States. 

Sosa and FSW Coordinator Marv Knox have banded together to pray for Maria and seek your prayers, too.

To help Fellowship Southwest with the costs of Maria’s surgery and extend her ministry to immigrants, you can support the FSW Immigrant Relief Ministry by clicking here.